Ping Wu
, AKA the , is the most notorious and wanted hacker in the Solar System. Along with his partner, Martin Tsang, AKA the "Skunk", the two were an unbeatable combination until Aga Mbadi, using the abilities of his three brain bio-chips, appeared on the net as "Trinidad" and forced Ping into hiding and Martin to retire from hacking and go straight. Ping lived in exile in Robo-Asyl for a century, where he influenced the robots' culture and identity. After he rescued Alita and her companions, Ping partnered up with her to break into Ketheres during the Tenth Zenith of Things Tournament (ZOTT), becoming a key support member of the Space Angels. Appearance Characterised by his scruffy appearance, Ping has shoulder-length black hair and perpetual stubble on his chin. He typically wears a reversed and black sweater, pants and shoes in addition to sunglasses and a light coloured trench coat. Ping has worn a light coloured space suit with a pair of additional arms, although when he was younger he was shown wearing a standard suit and was clean-shaven.Phase 58 He had a prosthetic left forearm and hand. This hand was a semi-independent robot named Kale who assisted him with hacking and various tasks. Following his second confrontation with Trinidad in ES 591, Kale was destroyed by the Eclipse attack and Ping was forced to blow off his right arm and left leg to thwart further uses of it against him. Ping used two avatars. The first had a cylindrical body on top of which was Ping's head with a half-spherical hat. Galeed, his combat avatar, was a gigantic figure with a -like appearance. It had a dark body with various light patterns all over in a manner similar to . Ping had a jester-like cap and pointed white feet. Personality As a hacker and criminal, Ping had become somewhat of a scoundrel following his defeat by Trinidad. However he followed his own values and was not deliberately exploitative, although he was sometimes unable to understand how his actions negatively impacted others. It is implied that he used to be more idealistic, but became jaded through his experiences. After learning how the world had come to be and learning of Alita's role in it, Ping's outlook changed and he was willing to sacrifice himself in order to help her fulfill her goals, as he knew that doing so would help achieve his. This and his earlier determination to attempt to change the state of the world nearly singe-handedly despite the possible consequences suggest that he had developed a . Abilities Ping was already an extremely talented hacker at a young age, at 21 stealing Methuselyzation from a Venusian lab and posting it on the interplanetary net in ES 386. He could hack using what appeared to be a neural interface which allowed him to operate even if he were to lose his hands. Although overmatched by Trinidad, Ping's capabilities are more impressive when it is kept in mind that he did not have the support of three brain bio-chips and was just using his own brain. He was able to hack into the Ketheres surveillance network undetected and spy on LADDER sessions to keep himself abreast of developments. Relationships Ping gets along with the other members of the Space Angels. Although Sechs does suspect him of colluding with Alita, he decided to settle things between himself and Alita following the ZOTT.Phase 25 Alita Alita's spirited, but futile stand against Mbadi got Ping's notice and he decided to help her when she and the others were tossed into space as he saw a chance to fulfill his long time goal of striking at Mbadi. Although their alliance was entered into reluctantly by Alita as she had no other choice or hope of repair, the two got on well together as they did not interfere with each other's areas of expertise. Ping and Alita also share similar viewpoints and out of the Space Angels her goals were the closest in alignment to Ping's. Kale Ping created Kale to act as both his prosthetic hand and partner. The two worked well together and Kale always deferred to Ping regardless of what was happening, calling him "Boss". Landa Nam Nam During the century that he spent in Robo-Asyl, Ping formed a friendship with Landa Nam Nam, the leader of the robots and the most intelligent. Besides naming Landa, Ping also passed on his beliefs, both good and bad, creating a culture for the robots. Things came to a head when Landa tried to re-evict Alita and her companions after they had been cast out and rescued by Ping. After confronting Landa, Ping decided to leave Robo-Asyl and returned to the human world once again. Out of consideration for their friendship, Landa shut himself off for 24 hours to give Ping a window in which to act. When Alita returned two months later during Round 2 of the ZOTT, Landa denied Ping access to the robot entrance that he had planned to have her use and firmly refused to aid Ping again since their friendship was now over. However following Ping's second battle with Trinidad, which Landa witnessed, he was moved to help Ping in whatever way he could, and had his robots recover Alita's remains. After her bio-chip was fused with the Fata Morgana by Melchizedek, the robots delivered her reconstituted brain and the F-Box to Deckman 100. Porta-Nova Ping created Porta-Nova from the one brain bio-chip of Desty Nova that he had received as partial payment for his help. He brought this new incarnation of Nova up to speed and enlisted his support, gaining a valuable new ally who could also help him with his hacking. During Alita's infiltration of Ketheres Porta-Nova helped to counterbalance Ping's worries given his prior knowledge of Alita. He contacted Rem Rei for help after Ping was attacked by three New Order troops and regretfully told Alita that Ping's brain had been fried by Trinidad's Eclipse attack. Rem Rei Rem Rei and Ping met during his hacker days and she was drawn to him because of his appeal as a hero in certain circles. She attempted to stop him from tackling Trinidad, but Ping forged ahead and because of Rem's actions, suffered a crushing defeat. However the first thing he did on returning to Leviathan I was to seek Rem out and try to reconcile with her. The shock of seeing him again was initially too much for Rem, she had moved on and turned Ping down. After she later learned from him that he too had moved on from his former idealism, she said goodbye and walked away. However after Ping was attacked by High Order troops on Mbadi's orders, Porta-Nova contacted Rem to help Ping out and she rushed over to the Space Angels' base ship, taking charge of him from that point on. Martin Tsang Martin was Ping's partner in crime for years and the two were unstoppable until the arrival of Trinidad. Martin was in on Ping's plan to attack the first ZOTT in ES 491, but at some point cut and run, leaving Ping to face Trinidad alone. He survived, but lost his left forearm in the process to escape Trinidad's counter-hacking.Phase 18 - Ping mentions that he got Kale when Martin betrayed him. Ping felt betrayed at being left in the lurch and nursed his grudge for a century while in exile. When he returned to Leviathan I, he proceeded to beat up on Martin, who felt so guilty at what he had done to Ping that he tolerated this at first. However when Ping claimed that what Martin owned was his for having created the world that now existed, Martin began to fight back, with the two pounding each other until they were exhausted. However after Ping vowed to storm Ketheres again, this time prepared to die, the two reconciled and began cooperating again. Although Martin had retired from hacking, he played a key support role by acting as the Space Angels' sponsor and providing a cargo ship, Martin Company Cargo 502 that served as their base during the ZOTT. The ship was outfitted with a sophisticated computer terminal and workstation for Ping's use. History .]] Ping's early life has not been revealed. Born in ES 365, when he was 21 he dramatically changed the course of human history by making Methuselyzation publicly available to the rest of the Solar System. The Terraforming Wars ended a year later and Ping believed that he had played a role in bringing this about. He was also shown working in space at an unspecified location, but eventually became known in the underworld as the hacker known as the Weasel and partnered up with Martin, who was known as the Skunk. According to Rem Rei, Ping and Martin were practically unstoppable as hackers. Although they would steal to survive, they were more idealistic and tried to change the state that the world had fallen into after the Terraforming Wars and Methuselyzation made children redundant. When Trinidad appeared and began to kill Ping's fellow hackers, he refused to hide but instead tried to take Trinidad on. Ping and Martin attempted to hack into the First Z.O.T.T., but were thwarted by Trinidad. Martin fled and Ping lost his left forearm before he was able to escape and seek refuge in Robo-Asyl. He was taken in by Landa Nam Nam on Melchizedek's directive and eventually created Kale to function as a prosthetic left forearm and partner. He also passed on his worldview and what he knew to the robots, creating their culture. Although exiled, Ping was able to keep tabs on what was happening in the world by hacking into the Ketheres surveillance system and spying on LADDER undetected. Plot References Category:Space Angels